SKIP TO CONTENT
Harvard Business Review Logo

The Talent Curse

Ian Jepson   

There were many late nights during Thomas’s time at a private equity firm, but two of them really stand out. On the first, he was at a bar. Earlier in the day, his boss had let him know that he was the top performer in his cohort. Over drinks that evening, he struck up a conversation with a partner at a rival firm. “You’re the guy who closed two deals in six months, aren’t you?” the man asked. It was a moment Thomas had dreamed of and worked for since leaving his small town for college, the first in his family, years before.

Read more on Career transitions or related topic Managing yourself
A version of this article appeared in the May–June 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Recommended For You

Partner Center